Dispatches for the Colonial Office

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

The Coming Ice Storm

Wood for the fireplace stacked inside and out

Sterno for the camp stove, bottled water everywhere

Batteries, portable radios, toilet paper, lanterns

The outside faucets covered with plastic and old towels

Bedding for the pets in the laundry room

Mothball-scented blankets disposed here and there

The questions come as quickly as the wind:

What if…? What about…? What if…? What about…?

The day is grey and darkens even more

As strange blue light falls upon us from the north

Can You Describe This? - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Can You Describe This?

-Anna Ahkmatova, Requiem

Supplicants waiting in long lines in the snow

Hoping to give their children some sense of truth

Among the gassings of electronic screens

Protestors and federals bellowing in turn

The news blows in as Siberian flurries

Some flailing this way, and some trailing that

Footprints disappear among the drifts

Rasputin’s body might float up in the spring

Describe each human as a number, as a stat

“Truth?” sneered Pontius Pilate, “now what is that?”

“Can you describe this?” a woman asked Ahkmatova

“Yes, I can,” she spoke, she wrote, she lived

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

A Children's Bedtime Litany for 2026 - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

A Children’s Bedtime Litany for 2026

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

From the ICE-men who break into our homes and beat up our families

Deliver us, O Lord

From the anti-ICE who invade our churches on Sunday mornings

Deliver us, O Lord

From the ICE gunfire in our streets

Deliver us, O Lord

From the anti-ICE gunfire in our streets

Deliver us, O Lord

From the tear gas on our playgrounds

Deliver us, O Lord

From government-sponsored kidnappings

Deliver us, O Lord

From fires and looting

Deliver us, O Lord

From explosions in the night

Deliver us, O Lord

From strangers roaming around with guns

Deliver us, O Lord

From the unmarked SUVs that circle our block

Deliver us, O Lord

From the violence-pornographers who take our pictures

Deliver us, O Lord

Grant your children rest this night, O Lord

Or if we must be wakeful

Make the shooting stop

Amen

In the Name of…shhhhh!...they’re beating on the door…don’t let them hear you…

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

A Complimentary Tote - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

A Complimentary Tote

How very nice of you to check me out

Of all the things you could have bought today

You purchased a tote, which shows your good sense

And you picked me, which shows your good taste

Those are some great shoes you’re wearing

And your watch is a study in elegance

Proper dress is all about the accessories

I’m proud to be seen with such a classy lady

Wait – diapers? I gotta carry dirty diapers!?

And those dirty baby-bottom wipers!?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Combat Patrol on the Borders of the Empire - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Combat Patrol on the Borders of the Empire

There were nasty people in the army; but…[e]very few days one seemed to meet a scholar, an original, a poet, a cheery buffoon, a raconteur, or at least a man of good will.

-C. S. Lewis, “Guns and Good Company,” Surprised by Joy

Muffle-armored like Heinlein’s starship troopers

What attributes of civilization

Can the soldiers of our armies carry

Carefully tucked into their pockets and packs:

Paperback poets, math reviews, Miss January

Letters from home, a Rosary, a Testament

A naughty little short-timer calendar

A creased photograph of someone special

What do young soldiers carry with them

When they are ordered to suppress

Their fellow Americans

Monday, January 19, 2026

Is There a "Board of Peace" for Minnesota? - poem

Lawrence Hall

LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love

Is There a “Board of Peace” for Minnesota?

The president is mobilizing federal soldiers;

The governor, his state’s national guard

Sister and brother to war with each other

While citizens are scarred with bullet and shard

The chief of police makes stirring speeches

The several mobs lock lies into their ‘phones

ICE-men pull guns while a bullhorn screeches

Possibly next they will send up the drones

“We’re better than this,” some official will say –

More smoke to befoul Minnesota today

My Friends and Okra - rhyming couplet

Lawrence Hall